Opechancanough,
brother of Powhatan, was " King of
Pamunkey " when the English first landed in
Virginia. He was born about
1552, and died in 1644. He first became known to the English as the
captor of John Smith
in the forest. Opechancanough would have killed him immediately, but
for Smith's presence of mind. He drew from his pocket a compass, and
explained to the native as well as he could its wonderful nature;
told him of the form of the earth and the stars - how the sun chased
the night around the earth continually. Opechancanough regarded him
as a superior being, and women and children stared at him as he
passed from village to village to the Indian's capital, until he was
placed in the custody of Powhatan. Opechancanough attended the
marriage of his niece, Pocahontas, at
Jamestown. After the death of his brother (1619) he was lord of the
empire, and immediately formed plans for driving the English out of
his country.

Gov.
Sir Francis Wyatt brought the constitution with him, and there
was evidence of great prosperity and peace every-where. But just at
that time a fearful cloud of trouble was brooding. Opechancanough
could command about 1,500 warriors. He hated the English bitterly,
and inspired his people with the same feeling, yet he feigned
friendship for them until a plot for their destruction was
perfected.

Believing the English intended to seize his
domains, his patriotism impelled him to strike a blow. In an affray
with a settler, an Indian leader was shot, and the wily emperor made
it the occasion for inflaming the resentment of his people against
the English. He visited the governor in war costume, bearing in his
belt a glittering hatchet, and demanded some concessions for his
incensed people. It was refused, and, forgetting himself for a
moment, he snatched the hatchet from his belt and struck its keen
blade into a log of the cabin, uttering a curse upon the English.
Instantly recovering himself, he ,smiled, and said: " Pardon me,
governor; I was thinking of that wicked Englishman (see
ARGALL, SAMUEL) who
stole my niece and struck me with his sword. I love the English who
are the friends of Powhatan. Sooner will the skies fall than that my
bond of friendship with the English shall be dissolved." Sir Francis
warned the people that treachery was abroad. They did not believe
it. They so trusted the Indians that they had taught them to hunt
with fire-arms.

A tempest suddenly burst upon them. On April 1,
1622, the Indians rushed from the forests upon all the remote
settlements, at a preconcerted time, and in the space of an hour 350
men, women, and children were slain. At Henrico, the devoted Thorpe,
who had been like a father to the children and the sick of the
natives, was slain. Six members of the council and several of the
wealthier inhabitants were made victims of the treachery.

On the very morning of the massacre the Indians
ate at the tables of those whom they intended to murder at noon. The
people of Jamestown were saved by Chanco, a Christian Indian, who
gave them timely warning, and enabled them to prepare for the
attack. Those on remote plantations who survived beat back the
Indians and fled to Jamestown. In the course of a few days eighty of
the inhabited plantations were reduced to eight. A large part of the
colony were saved, and these waged an exterminating war. They struck
such fearful retaliating blows that the Indians were beaten back
into the forest, and death and desolation were spread over the
peninsula between the York and James rivers. The emperor fled to the
land of the Pamunkeys, and by a show of cowardice lost much of his
influence. The power of the confederacy was broken. Before the war
there were 6,000 Indians within 60 miles of
Jamestown; at its close
there were, probably, not 1,000 within the territory of 8,000 square
miles. The colony, too, was sadly injured in number and strength. A
deadly hostility between the races continued for more than twenty
years. Opechancanough lived, and had been nursing his wrath all that
time, prudence alone restraining him from war. His malice remained
keen, and his thirst for vengeance was terrible.

When, in 1643, Thomas Rolfe, son of his niece
Pocahontas, came from England, and with
Cleopatra, his mother's sister, visited the aged emperor, and told
him of the civil war between the English factions, the old emperor
concluded it was a favorable time for him to strike another blow for
his country. He was then past ninety years of age, and feeble in
body. He sent runners through his empire. A confederation of the
tribes for the extermination of the English was formed, and the day
fixed to begin the work in the interior and carry it on to the sea.
Early in April, 1644, they began the horrid work. The old emperor
was carried on a litter borne by his warriors. In the space of two
days they slew more than 300 of the settlers, sparing none who fell
in their way. The region between the Pamunkey and York rivers was
almost depopulated. Governor Berkeley met the natives with a
competent armed force, and drove them back with great slaughter. Opechancanough was made a prisoner, and carried in triumph to
Jamestown. He was so much exhausted that he could not raise his
eye-lids, and in that condition he was fatally wounded by a bullet
from the gun of an English soldier who guarded him, and who had
suffered great bereavements at the hands of the Indians. The people,
curious, gathered around the dying emperor. Hearing the hum of a
multitude, he asked an attendant to raise his eyelids. When he saw
the crowd he haughtily demanded a visit from the governor. Berkeley
came, when the old man said, with indignation, " Had it been my
fortune to have taken Sir William Berkeley prisoner, I would not
meanly have exposed him as a show to my people." He then stretched
himself upon the earth and died.

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